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interesting read... drive shaft falls off...

54K views 183 replies 76 participants last post by  RedMopar19 
#1 ·
So driving from Vancouver bc to mount baker... 20 mins to mount baker.. I hear this hmmm... like im downshifting.... and it gets louder and louder... and all the sudden thump..drive shaft falls off!!!

Just super pissed spent all day dealing with this problem...
Can't even rely on a 2010 truck?

Spent 2hrs with roadside assistance of dodge.
Which ended up to be useless... because i was too close to home but not close enough!

What should i be asking dodge to comp me for besides the fix of my vehicle which they have to do anyways cause its warranted
spent a couple hours putting it back on... by the side of the high way...

Drove it on the i5 at 60km/hr... all the way home... to Vancouver bc.... scared ship less with 4 other girls in the truck scared shit less.

Thanks for reading!
 
#2 ·
wow that sucks! so road side assistance refused to help you? wow so first your truck has this defect then they refuse to help you i don't blame you for being mad! id be pissed too, but hopefully after this fix it will be smooth sailing and you can get back to enjoying your truck! good luck with the repair and keep us posted!!!!
 
#3 ·
I would all your regional Dodge rep. Your dealer must give you that phone number BTW. Tell him/her what happened and see where they take it. Had an issue several years ago got the regional rep involved and we were credited back $260.00 on a repair job that should have been coved under warrenty.
 
#4 ·
Wow I agree with the others. I'd be super pissed as well. I drive with piece of mind that should something happen I can call Chrysler roadside assistance for help. That's why I dropped CAA. I would hope you are entitled to some kind of compensation, you may have a fight on your hands. Good luck with the repair and let us know how you make out.
 
#5 ·
I had the very same thing happen to me. Not the road side assistance problem but the drive shaft falling out. Same loud sound almost like engine breaking that gets louder and louder until boom the shaft falls out. My rear end completely froze up because my pinion nut shot back into the housing after it spun off (which isn't even supposed to be possible). I got stuck in the middle of an intersection in the bus lane. Tried to use 4 wheel to drag my back end out but no luck. I was really pissed. The tow truck driver said he just bought a 2010 ram and after he did, my truck was the 2nd dodge ram 2009+ that he had seen this happen on. Got towed to dodge and they spent 48 hours with the truck. I LOVE my truck but WTH dodge... If that happened on the freeway at 60+ mph who knows what could have happened.. First time venting about it on the forums if you couldn't tell. Sorry to hear about your situation man. Hopefully they were able to get it back as good as new. Still makes me nervous to drive my truck.
 
#6 ·
I think that this is a more common problem than Dodge maybe letting on. I have seen 2 Dodge Rams in the past year broke down on the highway with the drive shaft hanging on the ground. As with most vehicle flaws I guess it will take a serious accident and a law suit to get a straight answer out of Dodge.
 
#11 ·
We have 07 & 08 mega cabs at work & one of our guys was driving on the interstate going 75 mph & the driveshaft fell along with the transfer case pivoting in the ground raising the rear tires off the ground. Luckily he didn't flip. I used to have a picture but it is on my old phone.
 
#13 ·
I wonder why no one has posted a photo of the damaged part? ..makes one think.
I had issues of mine overheating on a trip while towing 70% of max. load. The dealer would not honor the warrenty on my 1 year old truck with 7000 miles on it. I had to pay the dealer $170 to get my truck back and continue out trip. Go Dodge, and I know I could sue them but I want to pick my battles.
 
#22 ·
I had this happen to my sons truck on a older dodge Dakota, I was in the truck on our way to trade the truck in on another dodge. It was quit the experience, a sudden thud, all four wheels locked up, couldn't drive the vehicle because it broke off the differential. anyways know what you went through. Not pleasant
 
#23 ·
thrill ride

I have a 2010 ram with 50k miles on it and just got a wake up call. I drive from Memphis to Arab AL twice a week. I took monday off to take my truck in to get a good once over.
While running with rush hour traffic, i took my foot off the gas, heard a loud whine, then kablam!!! The rear of the truck locked up and kicked me dead sideways, luckily I had just gotten into a gap between traffic. Nothing like having a full size crew cab truck sliding sideways on an interstate in the middle of traffic. I managed to get the truck straightened up and as it was about to slide around the other way I heard the rear end explode and the rear wheels freed up and i got off the side of the road.
Kudos to the drivers behind me, cars and the 2 18 wheelers that were able to avoid T boning me as I went on this wonder ride. I climbed out the passenger door and called my dealer, they hooked me up with roadside and an hour later!!! with rush hour traffic just missing my truck by inches, I got to my dealer.
They have yet to get it on the rack to look at it. I did crawl under it in the lot.

Drive shaft fell off. The pinion apparently came loose, I can see it inside the differential and all the threads are present. The drive shaft is beat all up, you can see where it hung on the frame when the truck went sideways. The front of the dif looks cracked, the pinion is inside the dif wedged against everything. The trans seams to be leaking fluid as well, cracked?????

This is a major safety issue!!!! First mine is not the only ram this has happened to. My dealer has had 1 other in for the same issue, and another for no oil in the rear diff.

I'm a Dodge man, but this has got me pissed off. Doing a little research on the net will provide others stories of drive shafts coming loose.

If you haven't yet I would get my truck to the dealer and have it checked.

Its just a matter of time before this seriously hurts or kills someone. I have many moons of driving experience under my belt and was able to keep the truck from splattering. Call it skill, luck, whatever, but It could've turned out very badly.
I cannot believe that Mamma Mopar has not addressed this issue!!
If I can figure it out I will post pics.
 
#24 ·
The only thing I can think of is there has been no complaints filed about this problem. With all the people having this same thing happen there should be multiple complaints filed.
People they won't do or don't know, if we do not tell them. I don't believe these are intentional problems, just problems they are not aware of. If interested I have added the Government web site to do just that.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
 
#84 ·
The only thing I can think of is there has been no complaints filed about this problem. With all the people having this same thing happen there should be multiple complaints filed.
People they won't do or don't know, if we do not tell them. I don't believe these are intentional problems, just problems they are not aware of. If interested I have added the Government web site to do just that.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
thanks for the link i submitted my complaint so should everybody else
 
#25 ·
Hopefully you can find the cause of the failure. The driveshaft falling off shouldnt cause the rearend to lock-up.
I've heard some 10's-early 11's had low levels of gear oil from the factory so that could cause the rearend to lockup.
 
#26 ·
Ha i remember my work truck ford f250 dropped the shaft it took them 14 hours to get me towed cause i was on an interstate and they refused to touch me so lets see sun - double time- 14 hours in truck ( well went to strip club and bar down the street) then another 8 hours on job 22 hours of double time. And the stupid ford has 1100 miles on it
 
#27 ·
cause

They have determined, that the pinion had come loose and unscrewed from the drive shaft mounting plate and allowed the pinion to pull into the center section locking the rear end up tight. It finally broke free when the parts scattered and allowed it to free wheel.
Research has shown this happening to several other people in about the same way, most just at a lower speed.
the other one at the dealer they pulled his inspection cover put the pinion back into place, replace driveshaft and yoke tighten up and sent him on his way.
 
#29 · (Edited)
They have determined, that the pinion had come loose and unscrewed from the drive shaft mounting plate and allowed the pinion to pull into the center section locking the rear end up tight. It finally broke free when the parts scattered and allowed it to free wheel.
Research has shown this happening to several other people in about the same way, most just at a lower speed.
the other one at the dealer they pulled his inspection cover put the pinion back into place, replace driveshaft and yoke tighten up and sent him on his way.
I wonder why the pinion came loose and backed out. Did the nut holding the pinion yoke in place fail?..or did the pinion bearings fail from lack of proper lubrication?
My diff cover adds 40% more oil and raises the oil level, I hope this helps me avoid your mess.
 

Attachments

#30 ·
I am anal about changing my engine oil and inspecting the other fluids, engine oil gets changed every 3k and at the time the other fluids get checked. Oil changed 1500 miles ago and diff oil checked at that time. Was level with the plug hole. It gets parked in a garage so any leaks would be detected instantly.

My suggestion if you can do it yourself, is drop the drive shaft and check the torque on the pinion nut. If not take it to a dealer. 1hr of labor to avoid the above is cheap cheap.
 
#31 · (Edited)
I am anal about changing my engine oil and inspecting the other fluids, engine oil gets changed every 3k and at the time the other fluids get checked. Oil changed 1500 miles ago and diff oil checked at that time. Was level with the plug hole. It gets parked in a garage so any leaks would be detected instantly.

My suggestion if you can do it yourself, is drop the drive shaft and check the torque on the pinion nut. If not take it to a dealer. 1hr of labor to avoid the above is cheap cheap.
Good idea on checking the yoke nut torque.:smileup: I have large sockets from other near misses like....07 Z06 main rear wheel hub nut can become loose causing the wheel to fall off, Viper,the large nut on the engines harmonic dampner gets loose causing total engine failure.
Next is to find the torque specs for the yoke pinion nut.

UPDATE ON torque specs>

there is none. you need a torque meter gauge to measure turning torque. You tighten the nut so there is no play. Measure with the gauge. Tighten some more. check again. and so on. if you go to tight you cannot loosen and have to replace the crush sleeve and start over
 
#34 ·
I would be inclined to go to an independant driveline specialist, for and un-biast opinion, I think I'm going this route. I'll pay for the hour labour, if there is any issues, I can take paperwork in hand to my dealer. Like a lot of dealers, I think they get so busy, they won't take on a proactive check if something is isn't obvious.
 
#35 ·
update from the dealer

Been driving a maroon booger, nissan vogue, out of my pocket not covered by Dodge.
They cannot just order the entire rear end from mamma Mopar, It killed both axels, the ring and pinion, carrier, and broke the gear off the end of the pinion and shoved it through the bottom of the housing. They ordered each piece of the rear end will bench build and then swap into my truck. So far total down time is at 5 days, not expected to be done till Tuesday.

On a good note, the 05 Durango has been passed on to a new owner and a new 2012 Charger R/T has been added to the family.
Its still up in the air if the Ram will continue to be a part of the family after the let down, it may get replaced!!!!
 
#36 ·
Been driving a maroon booger, nissan vogue, out of my pocket not covered by Dodge.
They cannot just order the entire rear end from mamma Mopar, It killed both axels, the ring and pinion, carrier, and broke the gear off the end of the pinion and shoved it through the bottom of the housing. They ordered each piece of the rear end will bench build and then swap into my truck. So far total down time is at 5 days, not expected to be done till Tuesday.

On a good note, the 05 Durango has been passed on to a new owner and a new 2012 Charger R/T has been added to the family.
Its still up in the air if the Ram will continue to be a part of the family after the let down, it may get replaced!!!!


Traded a 09 Challenger RT for the Ram because a 4x4 is needed, the chally was great. I like the new Chargers.
If your Ram go's beware of GM's rearends, Had to go bad 07 tahoe,04 Yukon. Ford's 2012 F-150 ECO's are looking good.
 
#37 ·
WOW! I haven't heard any of this rear end/driveshaft business until now. As soon as I pull back into port, going straight to the dealer and inquiring! Refusing to take any of their B.S. that they try to feed me about it as well. I only have 16-17k on 2010. In the summer, I drove from Portsmouth, VA to Pheonix, AZ to move my father in with me. Return trip included a u-haul trailer with about 5k worth of weight. Thinking of the bad business that would have been if something that would have happened on I-40...
 
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